The Director of Public Prosecution has suffered a blow after a court blocked his bid to withdraw another NYS case involving Ksh226.9 million that faced former Youth Affairs PS Lilian Omollo.
In a ruling rendered by Milimani Anti-Corruption Court Magistrate Eunice Kagure Nyutu on Friday, August 25, 2023, declined to have the graft charges against former PS Omollo to be withdrawn saying the DPP did not give compelling reasons as to why the case which is partially heard should be terminated.
The magistrate however directed the corruption case against Omollo and 30 other accused persons to proceed to full trial to its logical conclusion.
The DPP through state counsel Eva Kanyuira had sought to have the charges against Omollo whose trial is almost at its tail end dropped under section 87 (a) of the Criminal Procedure Code (CPC) saying it is in the interest of justice and that of the public if the matter is stopped at this juncture.
While seeking to withdraw the graft charges against the former PS, the prosecution informed the magistrate that none of the witnesses who have testified in the case so far have implicated her directly or indirectly with the scandal.
Today's court ruling comes days after two other courts allowed the DPP's plea to withdraw two other corruption cases against Omollo involving the loss of Ksh60 million and Ksh167 million at NYS.
In 2018 when she was first arraigned, Omollo had been charged with three cases over the loss of Ksh468 million at NYS.
The NYS season II scandal cases where Omollo was implicated were in three clusters and handled by three different magistrates.
In May this year, the office of the DPP said that it had since reviewed her case and established that the procurement process involving the concerned payments was concluded before Omollo was appointed to the Office of Public Service and Youth Affairs.
The former PS is facing charges of authorising payment of the monies for goods not supplied at NYS in the financial year 2015-2016 and 2016-2017.
